At latitude 61.00 the aurora borealis was fighting with clouds, moonlight and sunlight for visibility at 2 am local time in the early morning of 4. August. All photos are 6 second exposure, 640 ASA, with a Canon Eos 7D camera with a Sigma 20mm lens set to F:1.8.

Northern lights over Stockholm tonight at 01h36 (local time). Canon Eos 5DMkII and 16-35 f/2.8 at 5.6. 20 sec exposure at Iso 400.

Photographic auroras: These Northern Lights were very faint to the human eye, but vivid to the camera. Photographer Mike Hollingshead described how he captured the auroras from Iowa:

"Saw the auroras at 42 north amazingly enough last night. If one didn't know what they were looking for they'd never known they were there. With a camera it makes it easy to be sure. For a couple hours, using an F1.8 fast lens and 3200 ISO, I was readily picking up the red/purple higher up while the near horizon area was full of clouds. Got a gap and could see green through it and was then I was sure. Take a shot and you could really see the pillars. Trick was that really high iso to limit the shutter/beam movement. For those that think they aren't far enough north, you may as well take the camera out and see what it thinks, given any storming. I would have never expected to see or pick them up with a 0 or positive Bz, from here. I knew even before I could see where the green was that I was seeing lighter sky above that cloud band, early on. Camera was a canon 5D II, cheap 50mm F1.8 lens doing wonders."

August 3/4 the G2 storm great to take aurora with out a parka as is normal for the Canadian Arctic. Location Rankin Inlet Nunavut Canada. lots of other Aurora and sky images

My wife and I headed out last night to see if the recent solar flares would produce some northern lights in our area. We were fortunate to catch a few nice displays before it dimmed. Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EF 16-35mm II, f/3.2 to f/4.0, 15s to 30s, ISO 800.